No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina cruised past reigning U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu of Great Britain 6-0, 6-1 in opening-round play at the Sydney Tennis Classic on Tuesday.
Rybakina, of Kazakhstan, continued her hot start to the season. She was runner-up at last week’s Adelaide International, losing to world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, but needed just 55 minutes to eliminate Raducanu.
Rybakina struck four aces and converted five of her 10 break opportunities against Raducanu, who was making her season debut after a positive COVID-19 test kept her out of action last week.
Waiting in the next round for Rybakina is Caroline Garcia of France, who ousted world No. 22 Jessica Pegula 6-4, 7-6 (3) for her first win over a Top 25 opponent since the 2020 French Open.
Other winners included Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia and Oceane Dodin of France, all of whom were victorious in straight sets.
Adelaide International 2
American teenager Coco Gauff, the No. 3 seed, won her opening-round match in Adelaide, Australia, on a day that saw three other seeded players fall.
Gauff breezed in a 6-1, 6-2 win over Czech Katerina Siniakova, winning 80 percent of her first service points and capitalizing on four of her six break chances.
Rebecca Peterson of Sweden rallied to oust top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, 5-7, 6-1, 7-5. Peterson, ranked No. 93 in the world, handed world No. 2 Sabalenka another first-round defeat in the Australian Open tune-ups. Last week, Sabalenka lost to No. 86 Kaja Juvan of Slovenia in the first Adelaide International tournament.
In other upsets, American Lauren Davis knocked out No. 7 seed Jil Teichmann of Switzerland 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 and Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine eliminated No. 9 Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-3, 6-2.
No. 4 Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia got past Heather Watson of Great Britain 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (4).
–Field Level Media